Hajj Rites 2015

Introduction

Hajj
is one of the most integral pillars of Islam upon which Islam has been
established. Imam Baqir (as) says "Islam
has been established on the following five elements: prayer, zakāt, fast, hajj and wilāyah".[1]

Hajj is of two kind; obligatory and mustaḥabb, it
holds immense virtue and abundant reward. Many traditions have been narrated
from the Holy Prophet S.A.W. and the purified Ahl ul-Bayt as. on the
merits of hajj. Imam Sadiq (Peace be upon Him) says: "Those who performHajj and ‘umrah form the
delegation of Allah; if they beg Him, He will grant them; if they call upon Him,
He will answer them; if they want to intercede for others, He will accept it;
and if they keep quiet, He will speak on their behalf, and they will be
compensated with a reward of one million dirhams for the expense of one dirham".[2]

Types of Hajj and ‘umrah

Issue 2:The hajj
is basically of two types: hajj
on behalf and hajj for oneself.
Hajj on behalf is the hajj performed on behalf of another
person, whereas hajj for
oneself is hajj accomplished for
oneself. Hajj for oneself is
further classified into two forms: obligatory hajj and recommended hajj.

Issue 3:
The obligatory hajj becomes an
obligation in itself according to the Islamic law, or it becomes obligatory
because of nadhr or invalidation of previous hajj.

Issue 4:
For every kind of hajj, that is,ḥajjat ul-Islam and hajj
on behalf — there are rulings and conditions, which will be mentioned in the
first part in two chapters.

Issue 5:
Obligatory hajj is further
classified into three forms: tamattu‘, ifrād and qirān.

Hajj tamattu‘ is obligatory for a person whose
homeland is located at a distance more than 90 km from the holy city of Mecca.

Hajj ifrād and hajjqirān are obligatory for people who reside within the holy city of Mecca
or those who are settled at a distance less than the aforementioned one.

Hajj tamattu‘ differs from hajj ifrād and hajjqirān with regard to rituals.

Issue 6: The
basic feature that distinguishes hajjtamattu‘ from hajj ifrādand hajj qirān is ‘umrah.Hajj tamattu‘ comprises
two parts: ‘umrah and hajj. It starts with ‘umrah. A gap exists
between ‘umrah and hajj during
which the pilgrim comes out of iḥrām state and is allowed to tamattu‘(literally enjoy) things which are prohibited for a muḥrim (a person
who is in state of iḥrām). Both ‘umrahtamattu‘ and hajj tamattu‘ should be
performed in the same year.

Hajj ifrād and qirān comprise only hajj rituals, and ‘umrah in
these cases is considered an independent worship termed as ‘umrahmufradah.
So, a person may perform ‘umrahmufradah in one year and hajj ifrād/qirān in another
year.

Issue 7: ‘Umrahtamattu‘ and ‘umrahmufradah have
common rites that would be mentioned in the second section and their
differences will be mentioned in issue 16.

Issue 8: Similar
to hajj, ‘umrah is
sometimes obligatory and other times it is mustaḥabb.

Issue 9: In
Islamic jurisprudential rulings, ‘umrah is obligatory once in life. If a
person fulfills the required conditions of ‘umrah, he should perform it.
Like hajj, it is obligatory for those who are mustaṭī‘ to perform ‘umrahas soon as possible. For those who reside in Mecca or its vicinity (not further
than ninty km from Mecca), being mustaṭī‘ for hajj is separable from
being mustaṭī‘ for ‘umrah. Therefore, if a person is mustaṭī‘only for one of them, he should perform it as soon as possible.

It is noteworthy to mention here that this rule is
specific only for those who live in the holy city of Mecca or reside at a
distance of less than ninty kilometers from the holy city of Mecca. With regard
to the people living far from Mecca and their duty is to perform hajj tamattu‘, ability and
qualification for hajj and ‘umrahis not separate from each other because hajjtamattu‘ includes ‘umrah of tamattu‘ and hajj and both of
them should be performed in the same year.

Issue 10:It is not lawful for a person intending to perform hajj or ‘umrah to enter the Holy City of Mecca without iḥrām.
And if he wants to enter in the Holy city of Mecca in days other than hajj season, it is obligatory for him
to enter the Holy City with iḥrām of ‘umrahmufradah.
However, the following two groups are exempted from this commandment:

1.Those who frequently visit the holy city of Mecca for job/occupational
purposes.

2.Those who have exited the Holy city of Mecca after performing the rites and
acts of hajj/‘umrah and
want to re-enter the holy city of Mecca during the same [lunar] month.

Issue 11: The repetition of ‘umrah is
recommended similar to repetition of hajj
and there lies no particular gap limit between two ‘umrahs. But, on
cautionary terms one can perform only one ‘umrah for himself within a
month. If he performs two ‘umrahs on behalf of others or he performs one‘umrah for himself and the second for another person, this caution is
not necessary. Therefore, if he performs the second ‘umrah on behalf of another
person, it is permissible for him to receive the wages of performing ‘umrahand ‘umrahmufradah will be sufficient for the performer whether
it is obligatory or not.

hajj ifrād’ and ‘umrah mufradah

Issue
15: Hajj ifrād and hajj tamattu‘ are similar in terms of rituals and acts of
worship except for one major difference of animal slaughtering. It is mandatory
in hajj tamattu‘ whereas
it is a recommended act in hajjifrād.

Issue
16:‘Umrahmufradah is similar to ‘umrahtamattu‘ except for the following differences:

1.The rituals of ‘umrahtamattu‘ comprise taqsīr as
obligatory act; whereas in ‘umrahmufradah, it is optional for
the men, i.e. either he can have his head shaved or perform taqsīr. The
rulings for the women are that they should perform taqsīr in both ‘umrahmufradah and ‘umrahtamattu‘.

2.In ‘umrahtamattu, ṭawāf of nisā’ and its prayer are
not obligatory. However on the basis of caution, one should perform both of
them before taqsīr with the intention of rajā’ (hope of being
desired in shar‘). In ‘umrahmufradah, ṭawāf ofnisā’ and its prayer are obligatory.

3.‘Umrahtamattu‘should be performed during the months of hajj: Shawwāl, Zilqa‘dah or Dhul-Ḥijjah; whereas ‘umrahmufradahcan be performed any time during the year.

4.There are five mīqāts (the place where the dress for hajj or ‘umrah is worn) for ‘umrahtamattu‘. Mīqāt for ‘umrahmufradah varies with
distance from Mecca. People residing in Mecca have adanāal-ḥillas mīqāt whereas people living out of Mecca are obliged to wear iḥrāmfrom one of the five mīqāts nearest to them.

hajj qirān

Issue
17: Hajj qirān differs from hajj ifrād mainly in two aspects: animal slaughtering and
becoming muḥrīm. During hajjqirān, the animal for slaughtering should accompany the person wearing iḥrām,
thereby animal slaughtering is obligatory for him.

Likewise,
in the hajj qirān, iḥrāmis carried out by saying Labbayk (specific slogan of hajj) or by ish‘ār or taqlīd(their meanings will be mentioned in issue 140) but in hajj ifrād, iḥrām is materialized only by saying Labbayk.

General Rules for hajj tamattu‘

Issue 18:
For the hajj tamattu‘ to
be valid, there are certain conditions be fulfilled. They are as follows:

1)Intention, i.e. from the time of wearing iḥrām for ‘umrah oftamattu‘, he should intend to perform hajj tamattu‘; otherwise, his hajj is not in order;

2)Both ‘umrah and hajj
need to be performed in the months of hajj;

3)Both ‘umrah and hajj
need to be performed in the same year;

4)‘Umrah and hajj should be performed for one person and by one person. This
implies that a person who is performing hajj
on the behalf of a dead person needs to perform both ‘umrah and hajj himself. Hiring two individuals
to carry out the ‘umrah and hajj
separately is not permitted.

Issue
19: A person, whose duty is to perform hajj tamattu‘, cannot change it
on purpose and by choice to perform hajjifrād or qirān.

Issue
20: A person, whose duty is to perform hajj tamattu‘ but knows that
the time is too short to complete ‘umrah and join hajj, should
change his intention from hajj tamattu‘to hajj ifrād and
after completing the rites of hajj,
he should perform ‘umrahmufradah.

Issue
21: A woman, who wants to perform hajj tamattu‘ but is menstruating at the point of mīqāt,
should wear iḥrām for ‘umrahtamattu‘ at mīqāt if
she thinks she may be purified some time before hajj tamattu‘ and will have enough time to take ghusl,
perform all the deeds of ‘umrahtamattu‘, wear iḥrām for hajj tamattu‘, and reach ‘Arafāt
by 'noon' on the day of ‘Arafa.

Then,
if she becomes clean from menstruation and she has sufficient time for
performing deeds of ‘umrah and is able to reach ‘Arafāt by 'noon' on the
day of ‘Arafa, she should do so. In case, she does not become clean or does not
have sufficient time to perform the ‘umrah rituals and reach ‘Arafāt on
time, she should change his intention from ‘umrahtamattu‘ to hajj ifrād, with the same iḥrāmand then perform ‘umrahmufradah; this will compensate for hajj tamattu‘.

If
she is sure she will not become clean before the time for iḥrām of hajj
and going to ‘Arafāt on time or she will not have time to perform ‘umrahtamattu‘ rituals before going to ‘Arafāt on time, she should enter iḥrāmin mīqāt intending performing what is her real duty or iḥrām of hajj ifrād. After performing hajj ifrād rituals, she
perform ‘umrahmufradah and what she has done replaces hajj tamattu‘.

However,
if a woman is clean in mīqāt but begins to menstruate on the way to
Mecca in state of iḥrām or before performing ṭawāf of ‘umrahand its prayer or during the course of ṭawāf before completion of
fourth round and is certain that she cannot be clean to perform ‘umrahdeeds and reach ‘Arafāt by 'noon' on the ninth of Dhul-Ḥijjah, she has two
choices:

a)She can change her intention from ‘umrahtamattu‘ to hajj ifrād and once hajj ifrād is done she should
perform ‘umrahmufradah. These acts replace hajj tamattu‘.

b)She postpones ṭawāf of ‘umrah and its prayer and by
performing sa‘y and taqsīr she exits iḥrām of ‘umrah.
Then she should wear iḥrām of hajj,
go and stay (wuqūf) in ‘Arafāt and Mash‘ar, and perform deeds in Minā and after returning to the
Holy city of Mecca, she should perform ṭawāf of tamattu‘and its
prayer as qaḍā’ — before performing ṭawāf of hajj and its prayer and sa‘yor after performing them. This act is a compensation for hajj tamattu‘ and nothing more
is obligatory for her.

If
she begins to menstruate after completing her fourth round of ṭawāf, she
should leave remaining rounds of ṭawāf and its prayer, perform sa‘yand taqsīr and come out of iḥrām of ‘umrah. After this, she
can stay in wuqūfs and perform rites in Minā, and upon return to Mecca, and
after performing ṭawāf and its prayer and sa‘y or before
performing all these rites, she should perform ṭawāf of ‘umrahand its prayer[1]. This
act is a compensation for her hajjtamattu‘ and nothing more is obligatory upon her.

Issue
22: The details of rites and commandments of hajj will be mentioned in part three
and in several chapters.

[1] In order to know how she is
to perform them, you may see issue 286.